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Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

reuters.com

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Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#431

Post by ch4ch4 »

amatecha wrote: post #418
darkarmani wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still using the original pebble. Unfortunately, i'm getting hit by the screen tearing problem and it is so old that i can't even open it to fix the problem. I don't want a watch that i have to charge daily, or i'll take it off and end up never putting it back on. I've been thinking of buying up some refurbished old pebbles as they have the exact features I want without the downsides of ALL of the newer watches/fi…

In what way can you not open it? Are the torx screws stripped? I did the "display shim" fix a couple times and it worked very well, but indeed it does rely on opening the case and putting it back together...

The display shim fix worked for me too! But the watch only costs $20 on eBay anyway, so next time I'll probably just buy another one.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#432

Post by notatoad »

nradov wrote: post #398
notatoad wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Google isn’t buying Fitbit to improve Fitbit, Google is acquiring a company to gain their experience in the wearables space I imagine they're also interested simply as a defensive move: if they don't buy fitbit, maybe samsung or apple does.

Fitbit has nothing that Samsung or Apple need (except perhaps some patents for protection for defensive litigation).

They have marketshare

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#433

Post by ChrisCinelli »

I do not understand why somebody would buy a Fitbit... I would never buy one. All the ones I owned were gifts. All the ones I owned broke in a way that showed a flawed process and engineering.

Their Bluetooth stack is sooo broken. The devices cannot sync if there are other Bluetooth devices around or only some very specific phones are supported.

Their forums are FULL of complains for the hardware breaking (ex: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge/Fitbit-charge-battery... - https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge/Charge-band-falling-a... - https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Charge/Button-fell-off-my-ch... ) and updates that brick the devices (one of the recent examples: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Fitbit-OS-4-0-2-Firmwa... )... nevertheless people still buy them.

I think the only good things Fitbit has may be the community and that it is not easier to replicate.

I guess Google can buy the company at a bargain price. They could fix up the technical/process problems, create good devices and use the FitBit brand to sell to their user base.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#434

Post by pstuart »

B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #307
eckza wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not absolutely fucking horrifying or anything.

Around 2005 or so, Google floated (and let sink) the creepy idea that you should let them listen to your mic, so that they could supply useful info, for instance about the football game you were watching. This is now the new normal. Pretty sure whatever is now weird will soon be normal too, given a spreadsheet or two to push it through. (Heinlein was not nearly imaginative enough about the Crazy Years, no one could b…

Thanks for the Heinlein reminder. For some reason, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has been in my thoughts, but I couldn't really say why....

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#435

Post by sulam »

amatecha wrote: post #411

Still bitter that Fitbit bought Pebble and did apparently nothing worthwhile with the tech or the team they acquired. I loved my Pebble OG and kept searching for a nice secondhand Pebble Time Steel to upgrade to -- until the Fitbit acquisition where we learned the Pebble ecosystem was unfortunately doomed. I've since "upgraded" to an Apple Watch S4, but to be honest it's really just a "side-grade" as there are major…

At the risk of sounding contradictory — the latest Fitbit watch has AOD, more than 7 days of battery life (at least for me — half that if I turn AOD on), and a button. It also uses that Pebble tech to power their third party app ecosystem.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#436

Post by sulam »

phire wrote: post #424
cordite wrote: post #329

Hmm, I don't suppose they will revive pebble. https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/22/14703108/fitbit-bought-pe...

The Fitbit versa is the spiritual successor to the pebble. I believe it is partially developed by the ex-pebble engineering team members. Only thing it's really missing is the always-on display and native apps (they have javascript apps instead).

The Versa line has the same JavaScript apps Pebble did. And Versa 2 has an always on display.

FWIW!

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#437

Post by eugeniub »

amatecha wrote: post #420
eugeniub wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can turn off iCloud sync for your Health data, but even if you keep it on, it's encrypted end-to-end across all your devices, which is nice.[1] (Some caveats apply.) 1: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303

Ah yeah, I have iCloud sync off for everything except the one free iCloud email account. :)

Ironically, the only iCloud service that is not encrypted at rest. :P

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#438

Post by ChrisCinelli »

Sysreq1 wrote: post #279
ignoramous wrote: post #16

> Fitbits’ stock shot up almost 30 percent after the first rumors surfaced. In recent months, the company’s stock often traded below $3, down from close to $48 shortly after its IPO in 2015. Today, after the announcement, it went up to around $5.20. Good lord, must the acquisition offer feel like a relief? Surely, Fitbit wouldn't do a Groupon now. The article fails to mention Fossil, but Google recently did acquire t…

How do you say, “That’s a bingo!” Google isn’t buying Fitbit to improve Fitbit, Google is acquiring a company to gain their experience in the wearables space to compete with Apple and Samsung. I suspect Google thinks AppleWatch is helping them erode the Android market share and/or preventing switchers from moving to Pixel.

The only thing useful that Fitbit has is marketshare (declining), community and maybe patents. From my experience with their products, you do not want their experience in the wearables space ... It is not going to help to compete with Apple and Samsung.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#439

Post by briandear »

amatecha wrote: post #422
eugeniub wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW you can upgrade to the S5 to get an always-on display. I upgraded from S2 to S5 and I love it. Better late than never. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ah yeah I am aware of that -- though I understand the S5 also has quite a bit less battery life? Is that correct? I'm pretty happy with battery life on the S4!

Battery life is the same for me.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#440

Post by eugeniub »

amatecha wrote: post #422
eugeniub wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW you can upgrade to the S5 to get an always-on display. I upgraded from S2 to S5 and I love it. Better late than never. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ah yeah I am aware of that -- though I understand the S5 also has quite a bit less battery life? Is that correct? I'm pretty happy with battery life on the S4!

Officially it has the same battery life. Unofficially there are mixed reports, but I think it's just too early to tell. It's worth noting that the S5 40mm model has a new battery design that has 10% more capacity than the S4 40mm model.
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